The first set of 20 Indicators was developed as an output of an IPSI Collaborative Activity by UNU-IAS and Bioversity International, with the understanding that local communities require a more complete understanding of the status and changes in conditions in their landscapes and seascapes in order to strengthen resilience. After field-testing in countries around the world, the indicators were then further refined and updated based on lessons learned and published in the Toolkit publication (available above) along with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The background of the indicators dates back to the beginnings of the Satoyama Initiative, particularly the finding in the “
Japan Satoyama Satoumi Assessment” (JSSA) that significant changes in recent years have caused a drop in the resilience of landscapes and seascapes. For the purposes of the Indicators, “resilience” in landscapes and seascapes is considered to mean their ability to absorb or recover – in terms of both ecosystem processes and socio-economic activity – from various pressures and disturbances without lasting damage. Resilience is a product of ecological, social, cultural and economic systems, dynamically linked to each other.
With this in mind, the Indicators of Resilience consist of a set of 20 indicators designed to capture different aspects of key systems – ecological, agricultural, cultural and socio-economic. They include both qualitative and quantifiable indicators, but measurement is based on the observations, tallies, perceptions and experiences of the local communities themselves. They are to be used flexibly and can be customized to reflect the circumstances of each particular landscape or seascape and its associated communities.
The process presented in the Toolkit is a community-based resilience assessment workshop, which allows for an interactive and participatory process for community members to understand and discuss resilience. In these workshops, a representative group of landscape or seascape residents along with any other relevant stakeholders, with as broad as possible representation in order to ensure equity and diversity of voices, is invited to take part. Generally, the agenda includes: an introduction to key concepts; explanation of the purpose of the workshop; exercises such as community mapping and/or creating historical timelines; scoring of the indicators themselves; and discussion of the results of the scoring. Please see the Toolkit for more detailed information on how to hold one of these workshops.
